Mama's Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Living (16 page)

towel. Al ow to air dry.

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r 36. Place one tablespoon of nettle leaves and stems in an enamel pot with one cup of boiling water. Cover with a lid and wrap with a warm fabric. Steep for 30 minutes, filter, and drink four ounces four to five times a day or eight ounces of warm nettle infusion three times a day.

This natural medicine is an excel ent blood purifier and it helps to heal al ergic rash, itch, eczema, and other skin disorders. Nettle is a wel -known folk remedy. It stimulates blood circulation and cleanses the body when people suffer eczema, rheumatism, or arthritis. It can also increase milk flow in nursing mothers. This herb absorbs many minerals from the soil and contains a high percent of vitamin C, which helps the body to adjust these minerals, especial y iron. r 37. Place one tablespoon each of nettle, agrimony, strawberry leaves, and heartsease into an enamel pot with one quart of boiling water. Steep overnight in a preheated but cooling oven. In the morning filter and warm the mixture. Drink one cup three times a day. This herbal mixture is an effective healer of al ergic rash and pimples. It is an excel ent cleanser, especial y in food intolerance which provokes different diseases where a blood purifier is needed such as digestive upsets, kidney il nesses, childhood anemia, congestion, skin rashes, urinary infections, and respiratory problems. r 38. Duckweed nastoyka (infusion) is used to treat almost al alergic conditions, especial y skin rashes and swel ing of a nervous origin. Wash fresh duckweed plant. Put one teaspoon in a glass jar. Add 50 ml (two ounces) vodka. Seal the jar and store in a cool place for seven days. Stir occasional y. Filter into a pitcher. With your fingers press the mixture through cheesecloth to extract more liquid. Then pour the strained liquid into a pre-washed dark glass bottle. Use a funnel if necessary. Pour 15-20 drops of tincture into two ounces of water and take three times a day. Any part of the plant can be used in nastoykas with vodka. This method offers two benefits:

a.) Al active ingredients are extracted.

b) Vodka is a natural preservative, so nastoyka/tincture can be used for two years, if stored in a cool place.

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Ailments:
allergic rhinitis, nasal mucus, sneezing, hay fever, conjunctivitis, allergic asthma, provoked by

plants; trees; flowers pollens; hay, street, house, and bookshelf dust; or animal hair.

Remedies:

r 39. Make or buy fresh birch juice and drink it for one month as a substitute for water or tea.

r 40. Mary’s Root powder. Wash a dry peony root. Dry, and grind it to a powder. Take three tablespoons a day 30 minutes before a meal. This effectively treats al ergic rhinitis because the root’s bark is a good antibacterial and it can be used to heal more complicated il nesses such as abscesses, skin inflammations, eczema, liver disorders, and nervous conditions. This powder (1½ tablespoons a day) can be used to treat children with a strong al ergic rhinitis. This condition can be ful y treated in three to five days if peony powder is taken regularly as prescribed. If a child doesn’t like the taste of this powder, mix it with cherry or apricot preserves and offer it with a cup of hot water, sweetened with honey.

r 41. Place one tablespoon of Greater celandine aerial parts in a large glass jar. Add two glasses of boiling water. Let steep for three hours. Take two to four ounces twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. This herb is an anti-inflammatory, diuretic and cleanser, and a liver stimulant.
Avoid in pregnancy.
r 42. Grind to a powder burdock and dandelion roots. Mix wel and place two tablespoons of the mixture into a glass jar. Add 24

ounces of cold boiled water and steep overnight. In the morning boil the liquid for 10 minutes and steep for an additional 10

minutes. Drink four ounces four to five times a day before any meal and before you go to bed.

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r 43. Grind dried duckweed to a powder. Mix it with honey in equal proportions. Take two grams of the mixture twice a day.

r 44. You can make an effective natural medicine from the blossoms of the Self-Heal (Prunel a vulgaris) plant. Dry the plant in the sun and grind the blossoms to a powder. Take one tablespoon three times a day with hot tea.

r 45. Make Self-Heal nastoyka. Combine one tablespoon of Self-Heal powder with eight ounces of boiling water. Steep for three to five minutes and drink hot.

r 46. Combine one tablespoon chamomile flowers in a glass jar with eight ounces boiling water. Step for 10 minutes. Take one tablespoon four times a day. r 47. Combine one tablespoon of calendula (pot marigold) with four ounces boiling water. Steep for one hour. Take one tablespoon three times a day.

r 48. Combine one tablespoon of peppermint leaves with four ounces of boiling water. Steep for 20 minutes. Take one tablespoon three times a day.

r 49. Combine two tablespoons of nettle with two cups boiling water. Steep for two hours. Drink two ounces four times a day before meals.

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Ailments:
allergic dermatitis, hay fever, nettle rash Remedies:

r 50. Two remedies were used to treat these conditions in our family. Grandma made her nastoyka Black Knight to treat skin problems. Put one teaspoon crushed black currant leaves in a teapot and pour two cups boiling water over the leaves. Let it infuse for four hours and then strain through a nylon sieve into a pitcher. Store in a cool place. Add a wedge of fresh lemon and take ½ cup four times a day.

Eat plenty of fresh gooseberries. The medicinal properties of these berries are very effective in the treatment of skin problems, because they contain vitamins A, B, C and bioflavonoids which help to improve circulation and strengthen the capil aries to free the skin of al ergic reactions.

r 51. Rinse throat with herbal infusions, using valerian root to calm the nervous system. Combine one teaspoon of valerian root with two cups boiling water. Steep for 10 minutes. Rinse the throat once a day in the evening. Keep the remaining infusion in the refrigerator up to three days but no longer.

r 52. Make infusion with motherwort herb. Use the same method of preparation as in #51.

r 53. Take a shower three times a day to open pores and cleanse all systems from toxins accumulated in the body.

r 54. Make a compress for the eyes by infusing two tea bags of black tea in eight ounces of boiling water. Steep for 10 minutes and al ow cooling. Soak two cotton bal s in the warm tea and place them on irritated eyes for three minutes. Continue treatment for three to five days.

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Sunlight and hot and cold temperatures can sometimes be irritants that assist the body in forming harmful substances that become allergens, but sunlight can also change the colors around us: yellow into orange, light green into forest green, light blue into navy, purple into lavender, pink into red, and red into fire-orange. In folk medicine colors are often used to promote healing.
Ailments:
irritated, blurry eyes; loss of energy; “hot”

head; headache; skin rash.

Remedies:

When sunbeams pass through a glass of different colors, they can be an effective treatment for various ailments, including those of the skin and eyes. This is described in the oldest world science—astrology. Keep an open mind and let’s explore this further. In an ancient Indian manuscript, astrology is described as “a natural daughter, born of a liaison and love of strong numbers and perspicacious intuition.”
Intuition told astrologers, and experimentation confirmed to scientists, that when sunbeams pass through a glass, they become a healing energy. This was considered in astrology as a display of one of the laws of Mother Nature.

Sunbeams contain a spectrum of seven colors, given in accordance with the seven planets:

Red — Mars

Navy — Venus

Yellow — Mercury

Green — Saturn

Purple — Jupiter

Orange — Sun

Violet — Moon

r 55.
Red
, the color of Mars, is useful in the treatment of inflammatory processes. A person who is suffering from inflammation would be advised to retire to a room where red is the predominant color, 106 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

from wal s to bedspreads. The sunbeams penetrating that room wil also be red. Although many people equate the color red with attention and emergency, according to astrology, it is a natural healer and plays an important role in warning us of diseases such as colds, flu, bronchitis, and pneumonia.

r 56.
Navy blue
acts as a sedative for intelectual people who are involved in intensive brainwork. Adding navy blue curtains or a lampshade to a bedroom can be an excel ent source of calming and relaxation for people who have weak eyesight or suffer a nervous disorder or mental disease.

r 57.
Green
also acts as a sedative and is an especialy effective healer for people with irritated, blurry eyes, affected by an al ergic reaction. r 58.
Orange
calms the appetite.

r 59.
Yellow
acts as a healer for people with intestinal disorders. r 60.
Purple
is useful for treating blood and liver diseases. r 61.
Violet
treats nervous disorders and vegetative neurosis. Al these claims were researched in Russia, Italy, and France. I have experimented with the colors green, orange, violet, and navy. These colors have worked for me. I believe that they work for me because the colors are managed by the Earth and are destined to heal al diseases that occur on our planet. There is also a principle of sympathy and antipathy concerning these colors and, when we fully understand how this mysterious kaleidoscope of colors work, our optimum health will be the benefit we derive from them. Look how the green color from Mother Nature can work for us.

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The Green Savior

Once upon a time a big city gathered so much

dust, smoke, and odorous, toxic fumes that the

people who lived there could no longer breathe easily. They got sinus infections and nasal drops that their doctors prescribed for them, didn’t help at all. Purple and blue violets, pale pink hyacinths, bright yellow daisies, red tulips and carnations, “orange gypsies”—marigolds, white tiger lilies, and creamy climbing roses were asphyxiated by gasoline and died in the city parks and gardens by the thousands.

The blooming bird-cherry trees had dried before the eyes after breathing in the city air. The beautiful tall maples “burned” down. The acorns, poisoned by the city’s fumes and smoke, fell down from the powerful gigantic oaks. The red ash-berries on the blossoming rowan trees got sick with allergies from the city dust and pollution.

The citizens complained, “What a mess! How can we rid our city of this pollution? We are sick and no longer have clean air.”

They screamed, “Help! Help! Can anyone hear us in this world?”

Their cries awakened a thick, emerald forest that had stood near the city for many years. In an effort to help the desperate people, the forest assembled an army of tree soldiers. Pines, firs, birches, mountain ashes, oaks, and poplars marched into the city in well-proportioned columns, spreading their saving oxygen everywhere. The toxins in the air became panic stricken.

“We cannot breathe anymore! We are dying! The tree soldiers are choking us!” they yelled.

When the dust, toxins, and bacteria smelled the fragrant needles of the pines, they felt strangled and were caught up in a tornado funnel and swept away by the big, leafy, green boughs. The fresh green mist that filled the city carried the scent of a forest in the spring. The heavy, dank, and poisonous air became light and fragrant with the scent of pine, fir, and birch. It was also scented with heavenly jasmine and wild rosemary, thyme, and basil.

108 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

The green mist floated into people’s houses through the open windows, doors, and keyholes. While the people slept, they began to breathe easier and those who had suffered from sinus infections, flu, sleeplessness and allergies had a sound sleep filled with sweet dreams as never before. The brave soldiers of the green forest marched through the city, winning one area after another until the city was clean and pure. And even today people are greeted by thousands of fresh junipers; pines; and millions of red, white, and pink geraniums placed at every corner of the city by the green soldiers to guard the people from pollution and sicknesses.

Nature ever flows; stands never still.

Motion or change is her mode of existence.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1802–1882), American poet and essayist
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Junipers on the mountains were thickly hung with berries,
and the air was unadulterated gin.

—John McPhee (1931–), American writer

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Winds are advertisements of all they touch, however much or little we
may be able to read; telling their wanderings even by their scents alone.